How much money to bring???? 3 month trip!

[chelsealynn]

So I am very confused at how much money I will need for a 3 month trip excluding airfare and transportation. I heard that you could do it for $00 Canadian/&85 US but then was reading another post on this board where people were saying that it would be really tight and should plan for 100 euros a day.

I am going for approximately 3 months and have picked out most hostels Iam staying at and added up the approximate cost of hostels to be around $2000 Canadian. I am planning on sightseeing for free in most places. I am not really interested in Museums. I am more interested in historical sites like WW2 sites in Germany and Poland (most of those are free) and the ruins in Athens (most of those are free too). I plan on just walking around the town sightseeing and in some places paying for a few attractions but not many.

For food, I am planning on not eating out much and when I do eat out, I will be eating in cheap places. Most hostels I am staying in have kitchens available so I want to buy my food and cook it in the hostels.

I am going to be traveling in Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Czech Rep, Austria, Slovakia, Greece, Italy, Spain and France.

Does anybody have any idea how much money I should bring with me there?

[herrbert]

The problem is that you can't give an exact answer. It depends on so many variables. (hostels, attractions, food, going out to party, public transport etc.)

In your case: The Netherlands, Belgium, France, Austria and Germany, are more expensive, than the other countries, you are planning to go. But cities, will be more expensive than small towns.

I was just counting what I paid this holiday in Scandinavia (on of the most expensive places). It was about 60 euros a day. This is included some traintravel (from/to airport), some daytrips, public transport tickets (for metro and bus), and eating out. If 60 euro is enough for me, for each day in the most expensive part of Europe, you should do for a lot less. Just to compare in Madrid I spend something like 25-30 euros a day (including buying 7 cd's of Spanish musicians).

I think the 100 euros, that David was talking about is, including travelling, in Europe. You can imagine that taking the train is expensive (at least in The countries, I mentioned above), and even with a railpass, it will up, the daily average drasticly.

If you are just walk around, and you do your shopping at a supermarket, you can save a lot of money, but it also takes some time. I guess that you can prepare your meals for anything between 5 and 12 euros a day. Including something to drink for on the road. If you make some sandwiches in the morning to eat during the day, this could save you a lot as well.

P.S. In Spain, some museums (the state-musuems) are free on Sunday until 14.30 hrs. (except for Americans).

[chelsealynn]

Hey, thanks for all the info. I was planning on bringing around $6000 for accomadation, food, sights and extra train travel expenses. In your opinion is that enough?

[spymoose]

lol did you just say that the museum is free except for American visitors? That's kind of funny

I'm glad you replied to this post, David's numbers kind of threw me off as well as I'd always heard $75-100 USD was the range needed for accomodation, sights and food (ie. money needed per day after travel expenses). Glad you cleared it up

[WillTravel]

It really does vary by how disciplined you can be, and of course if nothing goes wrong. You do want to have enough so you can accommodate some sudden problem. (I can't think of anything much, but say there's a transit strike and you have to take a taxi to the airport, or say that you have to buy some 20-Euro medicines, etc.)

I do think it's easy to go quite budget in Berlin. Hostels can be as cheap as 10 Euros per night, and if you really tried, you can eat all right on 10 Euros per day. Admissions aren't that expensive. I don't drink much, but I think beer is cheap.

[herrbert]

spymoose said:

lol did you just say that the museum is free except for American visitors? That's kind of funny

It has something to do, with having free access to museums for Spanish citizens (or everybody else in that matter), only the U.S. doesn't seem to have such an opportunity, so that's why Americans are excluded. (but keep in mind, it's only for the state-funded museums). In Madrid you can walk into the Reina Sofia and the Prado for free, but for the Thyssen you have to pay. In some other places there is a day that people from the EU, don't have to pay the entrance (like the Palacio Real in Aranjuez)